No more business as usual

Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:33amadmin

Dear Editor,

I’m once again expressing my concern with current county policy. I have received and reviewed the recent audit for Dawson County. I was not surprised by the results. Deficiencies were noted and the main problems noted were buying items prior to approval and the fact that in two cases, one individual had sole control of the monies and operations allowing the possibility for money to be spent without the approving authority (commissioners) even knowing about it or not find out until it was too late to do anything to change it. We have one person in the county who has control of over 9.5 million dollars in assets. We have private companies operating out of county-permitted gravel and scoria pits with no surety bond in place for restoration to the county of DEQ. We have Makoshika Estates which had to be done right away because it was needed. We have housing for regional correction officers, which has had teachers and highway patrolmen living there. We have companies operating business which increase traffic on our roads with no real method of collecting damages for this, other than an agreement that they will help with extra maintenance costs.

Those are the obvious things we as taxpayers could end up responsible for. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s we operated this way and in the mid 1980’s we saw our taxes increase dramatically to pay the bills. I am in favor of improving our infrastructure and know this is a requirement for new growth.

I do not believe doing business as usual will be to our advantage in the future and I think we have to look into the future and manage the assets we have instead of expecting the taxpayers to continue to come up with a solution. I do not believe we can continue to operate like this for another six years, and therefore endorse Gary Kartevold for county commissioner and Ross Canen for Sheriff.

If you agree or disagree with me, get out and vote. As Ben Franklin said, “If you don’t vote, someone will vote for you.”